Contact centres are recognised as systems with which a person communicates via telephone, typically to receive information, make a purchase, report a problem or any range of like activities. A contact centre may include one or more interactive voice response (IVR) systems that provide verbal prompts to solicit responses for automated branching of voice queries. The caller responds by pushing buttons on their telephone keypad, or by voice response. While calls to the contact centre may be entirely conducted within the IVR, callers may be transferred to a human agent. The agent talks directly to the caller, and typically interacts with a computer system to further assist the caller.
Detecting operational issues with contact centres is desirable, and such issues are desirably detected and resolved before they are noticed by callers. Poor-quality interactions can adversely affect a company's reputation and, ultimately, profits. Contact centres are often a first point of contact with callers and consequently set a first impression with callers.
Various methods and systems exist for testing IVR-based systems. One technique involves load and performance testing the IVR by generating bulk volume calls that are directed at the IVR. The test calls directed at the IVR conform to a “test script” that determines certain parameters of the test calls. There are various existing techniques for specifying a “test script” for generating calls for bulk call testing, and many techniques are proprietary to particular vendor solutions.
Contact centres that use agents introduce a human factor and are consequently less amendable to analysis. While IVR systems are intended to behave as designed, human agents are often used precisely because the caller's requirements are not predictable. Naturally, the behaviour, skills and performance of agents also vary. Techniques for testing contact centres that involve the use of human agents would thus form a welcome addition to the art.